Christmas is imminent, with 2016 closing in. Now that, of course, means we are all full of festive cheer, and we are decking the halls with boughs of holly. Our larders are overbrimming with great food and drink, and our wallets are empty as we purchase yet another present for a loved one.

It is the season to be jolly, and overindulge, just a little. I would never advocate hitting things too hard, but it is the season where a little bit of what we like never did us any harm. As one of the greatest beauties of the silver screen, Elizabeth Taylor proclaimed:

The problem with people who have no vices is that generally, you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.

However, what this time of the year also signifies is an opportunity to look back and contemplate the year past. And what a year it has been. It has been a hectic year here at Comms, and we have welcomed all manner of great products on to our site.

From a personal level, more and more of you have joined us on our social platforms. To have nearly 35,000 of you interacting with us has been a joy.

Our blogs are being read by record numbers, which makes beavering away at the keyboard even more fun!

Looking back over the years blog we have a pretty diverse bunch of wordies! We have been delighted to highlight our valued suppliers and their innovations such as PatchSee; Tekview; PATCHMATE; FLUKE Networks and their new network tester ‘LinkSprinter’; TP-Link; Axis and their IP solution ‘Zipstream’; ‘Powerline Pro Socket’ from Power Ethernet; Netgear; SuperRod; Schneider; DYMO; Buffalo.

Our blog has featured topics ranging from ‘earning cash for walking’, the ever increasing usage of the emoji, our early screening of the stunning new film from Ridley Scott’s The Martian, the award-winning Open Bionics, the BBC Micro Bit chip computer – did anyone of our community revive one of these?, we looked at the rise of Drones, the CHIP computer, YouTube and head transplants! These were just some of the topics under our microscope.

On a wider issue away from Comms Express, there have been substantial technical achievements. Only recently we sat glued to the live feed of British astronaut, Tim Peake’s mission to join the international space station. We never cease to be astounded how we can break earth’s atmosphere.

Driver-less cars continue to advance, excuse the pun, with electric car company, Telsa also dipping their toes into the driver-less car market. Robots from house servants to dogs were to be part of our future, and sportswear designers were developing all kinds of wearable tech.

Apple watches were launched with much fanfare and we wait to see if the smartwatch takes off. One of the UK’s most celebrated film directors, Danny Boyle directed one of the films of the year, Steve Jobs. Based on the bestselling book by acclaimed author, Walter Isaacson, Steve Jobs told the story of Apple co-founder. It failed to set the box-office, but it was to our mind simply stunning.

Google became Alphabet, and Mark Zuckerberg became a father. The joys of his newfound parenthood saw the creator of Facebook give away 99% of his shares, worth some 11 billion dollars.

So there is our look back on 2015. We thank you all so much for making it such a successful year. We look forward to 2016 with glee!

We extend our best wishes to you and your families for Christmas and the New Year

Until next time…